In many situations, such as in caring for an older person, either physically or mentally incapable of venturing from the safety and security of his/her bed, it may be necessary to provide a continuous restrain on the person. Of course, depending on the severity of the incapacity, this restrain should also provide for some freedom of movement while safely within the bed, and for dignity of restrain, if possible.
One common restraining device is in the form of an elongated strip that is wrapped around the chest or waist of the person, with one end being fitted through a slot formed in a mid-part of the strip to define a confining loop around the person; and the ends of the strip are then extended under the bed frame and tied together, or are otherwise secured to the bed frame. This looped strip, with the person constrained therein, serves to hold the person in the bed.
Another common restraining device has an elongated strip, somewhat like the looped strip just mentioned, but is larger across it middle and has arm openings formed therein, through which the person's arms are fitted, thereby also defining straps that fit over the person's shoulders, to define a harness; where the extended ends are then wrapped around the back of the person, with one end being fitted through a slot formed in a mid-part of the strip to define the confining loop around the person; and where the ends of the strip are then extended under the bed frame and tied together, or are otherwise secured to the bed frame. This looped harness, with the person constrained therein, also serves to hold the person in the bed.
Drawbacks to the looped strip and/or the looped harness device include the possibility of the person squirming around on the bed, to the degree that upon the person turning in one direction (rolling from lying on the back to lying on the side, for example), the confining loop can be tightened down around the person to the point of causing discomfort. Also the constraining loop can be worked upwardly on the person, to end up around the person's neck, to present the possibility of even choking the person. When the person turns to loosen the loop, and squirms, another drawback is that the restraining loop may loosen to the degree that the person may actually squirm completely out of the loop.
Efforts to avoid these drawbacks, by initially tightening down the constraining loop around the person's waist or chest, work to a degree; but the immediate feeling of being subjected to a greater restrain frequently can backfire, to worsten the situation rather than remmedy it. Thus, the tightened restraining loop commonly makes the active person squirm more, to accererate the possibility of discomfort of, choking by, and/or escape from the tightened constraining loop. On the other hand, a more docile person may be effectively restrained; but even upon that person turning or attempting to turn in the direction to tighten the loop, may tighten the loop even further to provoke discomfort and/or added danger of choking.
Also, as these restrains must both be fitted around the person and then through the strip slot to complete the loop, at times it may be difficult to secure onto the person. Moreover, as the looped device can quite easily become entangled about or tightened on the person, it may also be difficult to take the device off of the person.
An ultimate form of restraining device may be a padded cuff having elongated securing straps. The cuff is secured around the person's wrist or ankle, and then the straps are tied to the underlying bed frame. The device allows movement of the cuff only within the length of the securing strap; which if drawn tightly, can almost totally restrain the wrist or ankle from moving.
The cuff restrain commonly may be used in combination with the above-mentioned restrains, such as to restrain the wrist of someone who may try to remove an IV hook-up, or the like. On severe cases, four such restraining devices may even be used, on both wrist and ankles, such as with the person in a "spread-eagle" configuration, to totally restrain both wrists and ankles from moving beyond the lengths of the straps. However, as this restraining device precludes even the simpliest of personal actions, such as scratching one's nose or wiping one's brow, it should be used only on the most severe cases, or it otherwise may be so effective as a restrain to the point of being undignified and/or even inhumane.
It may also be necessary to provide a blanket having tie-down straps at the corners, whereby the straps may be secured to the underlying bed frame, to serve to keep the person covered. However, such tie-down blankets do not securely and/or safely restrain the person in the bed.